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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Sri Lanka government has gazetted draft 20th amendment to the
constitution in order to postpone 3 provincial council elections due in
October this year.

The proposed amendment says that “Section 10 of the Provincial Councils
Elections Act, No. 2 of 1988 is hereby amended in subsection (1) of
that section, by the substitution for the words and figures from “Within
one week” to “an election to such Council.”, of the words and figures
“Within one week from the date specified in terms of Article 154DD of
the Constitution, the Commissioner shall publish a notice of his
intention to hold an election to all Provincial Councils.”.

“The election of members to all Provincial Councils shall be held on the
same date and the Parliament shall determine the date on which all the
Provincial Councils shall stand dissolved (in this Chapter referred to
as the “specified date”): Provided that, such specified date shall not be later than the expiration of the term of the last constituted Provincial Council.”

Last Provincial Council election was held in September 2014 in the Uva province. its desolation in on September 2019.

The amendment if pass by the parliament will have the powers to take
over the any Provincial Council in case of its dissolution due to any
other reason other than ending its term.

Here is the relevant clause: “In the event of dissolution of any
Provincial Council by reason of the operation of the provisions of
sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (8) of Article 154B or by any other
reason specified in any law, the powers of such Provincial Council shall
be exercised by the Parliament until the specified date and the
provisions of Articles 154L and 154M shall, mutatis mutandis apply in
relation to the exercise of powers of the Provincial Council.”

This means if a provincial council is defeated in a no confidence motion
or election petition there will be no by election. In such a
eventuality the parliament will run the Provincial Council. This clause
completely negate the meaning of power sharing.